Whether they purchase it in Los Angeles or London, they’ll demand that each product be the same every time.

Think about it…

If someone buys a 12-pack of Budweiser, a pack of Camel cigarettes, or staggers into a pharmacy in an opioid-induced trance and purchases a bottle of Norco or Xanax, they know exactly what they’re getting.

Consumers want that kind of certainty.

In fact, they demand it.

But is Sour Diesel, OG Kush, or Green Crack the same every time you buy it, no matter where you are?

Hell no!

Quality, flavor, and effect can vary greatly and often does.

In fact, right now our entire industry is ass backward…

Consumers look at the strain and then look to see what it does. And if they like it, they’re going to hope that next time they buy that strain it has the exact same effect. But from grower to grower and crop to crop, a strain can vary significantly in potency and effect.

So how do you keep marijuana consistent?

You make it a recombinant product.

Cigarettes are a recombinant product. They’re a mixture of different single origin strains of tobacco with other chemicals (like saltpeter, for example, to make them burn more evenly). In fact, the average cigarette is only 50 to 60 percent tobacco; the rest is filler.

Why?

Because Big Tobacco knows that whether you’re in Moscow, Miami, or London, the outcome the product provides needs to be the same.

In fact, everything about the product needs to be the same.

For example, cigarette smokers are extremely conscious of taste. If taste is inconsistent, they’ll switch brands.

Marijuana consumers will soon demand this same kind of consistency.

But how will they trust they’re purchasing a consistent product?

The same way those who purchase cigarettes and alcohol do: they’ll buy brands.

Makers of these brands will blend buds (most likely of different strains) together and then impregnate this blended flower material with extracted terpenes and cannabinoids, producing a recombinant product that consistently provides the consumer with the outcome they want.

And the look, feel, smell, and taste will always be the same.

When consumers bounce into a 7-11, grocery store, pharmacy, or gas station, they’re not going to look for strains.

They’re going to select an outcome-based product made by their favorite brand.

If Marlboro was their brand, for example, they could choose from Marlboro Sleepy Time, Marlboro Pain-Free, Marlboro Anti-Anxiety, Marlboro Focus, etc.

So, if I were to release my own line of recombinant marijuana products, I might call the umbrella brand BigMike’s Blends.

And under that umbrella, I might offer…

BigMike’s Blends Pain Relief

BigMike’s Blends Sleep

BigMike’s Blends PTSD

BigMike’s Blends Energy

BigMike’s Blends Men’s Libido

BigMike’s Blends Women’s Libido

BigMike’s Blends Anxiety

By the way, the most sought-after outcomes will be restful sleep, pain relief, and anxiety relief. So products that deliver those outcomes will sell better than ones targeting other end results like productivity and enhanced sex.

And just like cigarette smokers will remain loyal to Marlboro, Camel, or American Spirit, marijuana users will find a brand and stick with it.

Right now marijuana is an agricultural product. But it’s quickly becoming a commodity like tobacco.

And while tobacco is a commodity, cigarette BRANDS are not.

If you’re going to sell strain, you’ll be selling a commodity and are going to get crushed.

Crushed by who?

Brands.

The most successful brands will be produced by Big Marijuana.

But that doesn’t mean you can’t start your own.

To build a strong brand…

Not only do you need a quality product, but your brand must have a purpose—your promise—that can be defined in one simple sentence.

And this purpose must be unique—different from every other brand on the market.

Chances are you’ve heard about the baller parties I host for our community at my mansion in the Hollywood Hills.

And as you may be aware, I was planning the best one yet for Super Bowl Sunday.

Over 500 growers, store owners, and industry leaders were set to travel from all around the country to watch the game on giant screens (some as big as 17ft x 10ft) overlooking LA’s beautiful skyline. They would mingle with celebrities, body-painted women, and 420-friendly ex-NFL players. And they would enjoy live performances by the Official LA Ram Cheerleaders, as well as professional music and entertainment, virtual reality gaming, an experiential 3D dome, and, of course, a bud bar and a dab bar.

It was certain to be the most badass and memorable party our industry has ever seen. And I personally spent over one million dollars of my own money to make sure of it. I did everything in my power to give every single person in attendance the time of their lives.

However…

The day before the party, the LAPD warned that if the party were to continue as planned, our guests would not be allowed in.

The city of Los Angeles then issued a Stop Work Order on the event. Advanced Nutrients CMO Rene Rodriguez was on site when the order was given. When Rene instructed vendors and team members to ignore the order and keep working, the Building and Safety inspector threatened to have him arrested.

This is a pattern we’ve experienced before. At a previous (private and lawful) party of ours, the LAPD threatened to arrest our President, Kevin Flynn, when he defied their orders to close it down.

However, when it became clear through back channels that city officials were ready to obtain an administrative warrant to arrest our executives and shut down the Super Bowl Party, putting our guests, staff, and the officers themselves in a compromising position, I made the responsible decision to cancel the party.

As someone who has never been afraid to take risks, this was not an easy decision.

The story was all over the news.

Check it out:

Now it’s true a small minority of my neighbors were upset about the party, citing potential parking and trash problems. And my neighbors’ comfort and safety is important to me, which is why I made my team and myself available to them to discuss their concerns.

But make no mistake…

The LA City Council and LAPD kiboshing the party had nothing to do with trash or traffic.

The fact is, my neighbors were nothing more than scapegoats for high-ranking officials in the city of Los Angeles as part of a continuing pattern of bullying and intimidation, simply because I, like you, am in the cannabis industry.

Now, I’ve thrown a number of private parties in Los Angeles before this one. And you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone who organizes such a professional and polished experience as my team and I do.

The event was by invitation only and the guest list was comprised almost exclusively of responsible growers, cannabis business owners, and celebrities.

And the only way to get into the party was to park in a lot I’d rented on Sunset Blvd. and then take a luxury shuttle service I’d hired. Anyone who didn’t take the shuttle—including anyone who tried parking in the neighborhood—would have been denied entrance at the gate.

As for security, we didn’t just hire any ol’ security company to police the event. Our security team included off-duty sheriff’s deputies, trained Navy SEALs, and even ex-U.S. Secret Service Agents.

I explained to the city that parking and trash would not be a problem. I also provided specific reasons why these things wouldn’t be a problem. But, because I’m in the marijuana industry, nothing I said mattered.

Which is why, after being forced to shut down the party, I called a press conference, which you can watch here:

Now, threats like those made by the LAPD are nothing new to me.

And I have evidence that my team and I have been intimidated and bullied solely because we are in the cannabis business, which I look forward to presenting in an open court of law.

Obviously, the last thing I wanted was for law enforcement to storm the party and put my guests and team members at risk.

And, as a leader in the cannabis industry, I certainly didn’t want the stain of a raid on a lawful party to be inflicted on our community.

But even though I canceled the party, this will not be…

…cannot be…

…the end of the story.

While I set out to give my guests the greatest Super Bowl Party experience of their lives, the city of Los Angeles—a great city built on entertainment and private parties at homes such as mine—made it impossible.

Therefore, I have been forced to turn the Super Bowl Party into The Super Bowl Party Lawsuit.

The party I was forced to cancel cost over one million dollars to produce. My team worked their asses off to put this thing together. Guests were coming in from all over the country to attend. Many had already boarded their planes.

The city needs to make this right. Not just for me, but for our entire industry.

Which is why I’ve instructed Advanced Nutrients’ CFO, Wayne Johnson, to work with our attorneys on filing a multi-million dollar lawsuit against L.A.’s City Council, the Department of Building and Safety, the City Attorney, and the City Councilman who ordered that our lawful and timely permits be denied.

Our community has been the subject of bullying and abuse from those in power for far too long. But times are changing. Cannabis legalization is gaining massive momentum throughout the world. And those in power who still hold onto archaic social ideologies feel threatened by this. They’re digging their heels in, railing against the change and hoping to reverse the tidal wave.

Now I don’t know about you, but…

I refuse to cower to uninformed outsiders, authorities with political agendas, and antiquated, entrenched politicians holding onto societal norms that are contrary to the will of the voters in California (through Prop 64) and the 28 other states that have legalized responsible use of cannabis products.

I’ve never hidden behind a tomato

Even though I’ve built the #1-selling line of cannabis-specific nutrients in the world—a company that does over $100 million per year in sales—I’ve always been an underdog.

And unlike my competitors, not once have I hidden behind a tomato or felt ashamed of the community I serve.

And my company, Advanced Nutrients, carries out philanthropic activities on a Global scale. From the poorest sections of Bulgaria to Skid Row in Los Angeles, we feed and clothe the homeless, the hungry, and the forgotten.

And I will continue to lead the fight against anyone or any group, no matter how large, that threatens our community.

Which is why I have instructed my attorneys and executive team to begin work creating a new non-profit, the Cannabis Freedom Fund.

The mission of the Cannabis Freedom Fund will be to find, develop, and install pro-cannabis candidates at all levels of government so we can unseat outdated ideologies that don’t respect the people’s voice.

I also promise that any and all proceeds recovered through our legal action will be donated to the Cannabis Freedom Fund, so it can support and protect our beloved industry.

Over half of America thinks marijuana should be legal in some form or another. But it’s been illegal for so long that, in many people’s eyes, anyone who grows or sells it is still nothing but a lowlife drug dealer.

To them, we’re no better than street corner heroin pushers.

Now you and I both know that this couldn’t be further from the truth. We know that we’re actually doing something good. Our product (marijuana) relieves the symptoms of all sorts of nasty medical conditions. We make users and patients happy while causing them few, if any, negative side effects.

We’re doing something good.

The real drug pushers are Big Alcohol, Big Tobacco, and Big Pharma. And they pay a healthy sum to make sure the Government protects their interests and persecutes the likes of you and me because we’re in the cannabis industry, and as such, are seen as a threat. We’re the healthy and safe alternative to their poisons.

Unfortunately, many people still buy into the lie the Government’s been spoon-feeding them for the past century that says cannabis is bad.

And in spite of overwhelming evidence that marijuana is beneficial to a lot of people and has little or no downside, they refuse to change their beliefs.

That’s on them.

What’s on us, and our fellow growers and cannabis entrepreneurs, is to hold elected officials accountable to the will of the voters.

As an outlaw grower it was crop failures, arrests, and rip-offs. I had dozens of indoor and outdoor grows seized by the police, was imprisoned, extorted, kidnapped, exiled from a country where I was living with my wife and child, and had a dear friend and grow partner fall from the sky in my ultralight and die in my arms just yards from the wreckage.

Since going legit, I’ve been sued, had partnerships sour, and had government agencies try to shut me down because of my past and the industry I’m in.

And because I was the first in the industry—and the only one for a number of years—to not just admit, but also advertise, that my products are for growing marijuana, I had a half-dozen of the largest distributors try to get my products blacklisted from stores. Advanced Nutrients was in its infancy and these distributors—that I dubbed The Good Ol’ Boys, and who had a combined annual revenue of $900,000,000—did everything in their power to put me out of business.

They threatened store owners that they wouldn’t do business with them if they carried my products. They spread rumors that I was a biker, murderer, and DEA agent. They even had their lawyers send out an opinion letter that warned: IF YOU BUY FROM ADVANCED NUTRIENTS YOU COULD BE ARRESTED BY THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT.

All because I was honest about what I sold and knew a hell of a lot more about the nutrients that marijuana thrives on than they did.

But just like The Good Ol’ Boys learned that I’m not going away, so will the city of Los Angeles.

Our community stands up for what we believe in. In fact, that’s one of the many reasons I’m so proud to be a part of it.

I look forward to partying with you soon.

Talk soon,
BigMike

P.S. When I throw a party, I spare no expense. So when I was forced to shut down the Super Bowl party, I was left with a TON of delicious food, enough to feed 1,000 people in fact.

Something had to be done…

No way I could let all that food go to waste when there are so many hungry people in L.A. that could benefit from it.

To support the Greater West Hollywood Food Coalition, visit them at http://gwhfc.org

And although I was forced to cancel the party, I kept my promise to my Instagram contest winners and had them up to the mansion to hang out and watch the Super Bowl with me. We had a great time getting lit and enjoying the game. And just like the Pats came back to win, you can bet your last bud that I’m going to come back and win over the city. Thanks to @andre.west@ohmyyylatto@bellamorous_bella and @badmothafuckajay for coming out… it was nice meeting you.

People ask why I stand up to Big Marijuana. “Aren’t you scared these guys will bury you,” they say, “with their billions of dollars and roided-out legal teams?”

Let me tell you a little story…

When I was growing up in Illinois, my dad owned his own film processing business called American Film Company.

To collect leads, he’d set up booths at fairgrounds where people would drop their names and phone numbers into his jar in hopes of winning a prize. To entice me to join him, he’d bribe me with the promise of ice cream, a strategy that worked like a charm. Ice cream dripping down my chin, I was happy to be his wingman.

I’d also catch some extra work with the carnies, handing out darts for dart games and serving hamburgers, Italian sausages, coffee, and pie. At ten years old I was ringing up orders on the cash register.

I had a blast working those fairs and the experience opened my eyes to sides of human nature I didn’t know existed. But it also placed me in some bizarre predicaments.

One time, when I was twelve or thirteen, I sat on a john in the public restroom going number two and thumbing through an issue of Field & Stream. Suddenly the stall door flew open and this old dude with a trembling hand forced himself inside and grabbed for my private parts. I slapped his paw away, kicked him as hard as I could and then booted the stall door shut.

Pissed off and terrified, I yanked my pants up, ran outside, seized a two-by-four I found lying on the ground and took to hunting the sonofabitch down. It all happened so fast, the only thing I could remember about him were his shoes. In full vigilante mode, I scoured the carnival for his ass, spying everyone’s shoes, intent on bashing the pervert’s brains in.

I didn’t care how much bigger or older he was. There was no way I wasn’t going to stand up for myself. No. Fucking. Way.

He’s lucky I never found him.

Growing up, I dealt with a lot of bullies.

When I was twelve there was a sixteen-year-old who would pick on me constantly. He delivered newspapers and the apartment where I lived with my family was on his route. I knew that if I didn’t put an end to it the bullying would continue.

So one afternoon I hunkered down by my front window with a baseball bat, waiting for him to ride by. As soon as I saw him, I flew out the door and charged after him with the bat. Just as I’m about to bash his head in, he began crying and begging, “No, no, please don’t hit me. Please. Don’t hit me.”

I never had any trouble from him again.

As an outlaw grower I experienced crop failures, arrests, and rip-offs that amounted to millions of dollars. I had dozens of indoor and outdoor grows seized by the police, was kidnapped, exiled from a country where I was living with my wife and child, and had a dear friend and grow partner fall from the sky in my ultralight and die in my arms just yards from the wreckage.

Since going legit, I’ve been sued, had partnerships sour, and had government agencies try to shut me down because of my outlaw past.

And because I was the first in the industry—and the only one for a number of years—to not just admit, but also advertise, that my products were for growing marijuana, I had a half-dozen of the largest distributors in the industry try to get my products blacklisted from stores.

These distributors, with a combined annual revenue of $300,000,000, did everything in their power to put me out of business. All because I was honest about what I sold and knew a hell of a lot more about the nutrients and nutrient ratios that marijuana thrives on than they did.

I didn’t fall in line with the status quo and bullshit my way around the truth by saying my products were for orchids, roses, and tomatoes like all the other companies did.

Fuck no.

I yelled from the highest mountain top I could find, at the top of my goddamn lungs, that my nutrients were for growing the big, stinky, tasty, sugary, potent buds.

And because of that honesty—which differentiated me from every other company on the planet and gave me a Unique Selling Proposition—along with superior products and customer service, I was grabbing a large piece of the pie they’d been sharing amongst themselves for years. So they played dirty to get me locked out of the industry.

They threatened store owners that they wouldn’t do business with them if they carried my products. They spread rumors that I was a biker, murderer, and DEA agent. They even had their lawyers send out an opinion letter that warned: IF YOU BUY FROM ADVANCED NUTRIENTS YOU COULD BE ARRESTED BY THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT.

Did it suck going through it?

Hellyeah!

Did I let it bury me?

No.

I used it to my advantage and shared videos with our community, explaining how I was being persecuted for telling the truth about who I was and what my products were designed for.

What grower wants to purchase from a company who won’t stand up for them, won’t admit its products are used for marijuana, and doesn’t want to be associated with our community beyond leeching millions of dollars off us?

Growers don’t want that. They want to buy from a fellow grower who understands their problems, has their back, designs products specifically to meet their needs, and not only isn’t ashamed to do business with them but is PROUD to do business with them.

They want nutrients for pot, not tomatoes. And they want the business to be all in, not pretending their products are one thing when they’re really another.

Like many of us, I’ve been through so much shit—much of which I put myself through—it would take an entire library to describe. And for my flaws and shortcomings they’d have to build out a second floor.

And yet, with a stadium full of problems and challenges working against me—including my own mind a lot of the time—I’ve managed to far surpass almost every goal I set out for myself.

Life and business will try to kick your ass. Take your punches like a man (or badass woman) but don’t let them win. Fight back like a motherfucker and use the strength and wisdom you’ve gained from the challenges you’ve conquered as fuel.

I like the way Rocky says it in the speech to his son. Heed this timeless advice:

“Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. It is a very mean and nasty place and I don’t care how tough you are, it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life.

But it ain’t about how hard you hit; it’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward… It’s how much you can take, and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done.

Now, if you know what you’re worth, then go out and get what you’re worth. But you gotta be willing to take the hits, and not point fingers and blame other people. Cowards do that and that ain’t you. You’re better than that!”

When you’re tossed to the ground, you have an opportunity to become the kind person, grower, or business owner it takes to reach the goals others tell you are impossible. Seizing this opportunity is how you get back up.

All the obstacles, hurdles, and ass beatings you face now are to prepare you for what’s ahead. Because as your weed business grows, so will your problems. They’ll become larger and grow fucking fangs. And you won’t be able to overcome them unless you prepare yourself by tackling the challenges in front of you today, next week, next month, and next year.

Look at it as training. It’s pushups, squats, deadlifts, and pull-ups. It’s batting practice and running drills. The only difference is that the game has already started. And it all leads up to the World Series. IF you can make it. So don’t fuck around. Get busy and get serious.

Now, do you see why I’m not about to roll over and be trampled on by a bunch of corporate raiders like Scotts Miracle-Gro as they try to steal our community’s achievements and destroy as many of us as they can?

If you’re unfamiliar with the Scott’s situation, through a front company and via other methods, Scotts Miracle-Gro has purchased General Hydroponics (the #2 brand in the USA), Botanicare (the #5 brand in the USA) and Gavita Lights (the #1 lighting brand).

And Scotts is using its massive distribution channels at Home Depot to sell Black Magic.

This should be of great concern to every single grower, equipment manufacturer, and store owner in our community.

In fact, Scotts Miracle-Gro CEO, elite 1% millionaire Jim Hagedorn with his hundreds of millions of dollars to burn, announced he’s planning a Scotts Miracle-Gro marijuana takeover by investing $500 MILLION to commandeer the marijuana hydroponics nutrients, equipment, and retailing industries.

And make no mistake, Hagedorn aims to put small grow shops out of business completely.

A recent Forbes article said he compares the lawn and garden business to warfare. He’s quoted as saying:

“Today the way wars happen, you don’t get to keep all the stuff. To me this is one where in commercial combat you kind of rape and pillage, and you keep all of the stuff.”

Rape and pillage—his words, not mine.

Now is Scotts advertising that Black Magic is designed for marijuana? Of course not. They’re not part of our community, nor will they proudly stand up for you and the cannabis you grow.

So instead, with a wink wink and a nudge nudge, Scotts sells Black Magic for “tomato growers.”

The people who built the marijuana industry and showed the world marijuana is good medicine are the home growers, companies like Advanced Nutrients, seed breeders, cannabis retailers, hydroponics stores, and activists.

We’ve all put in years of hard work on the front lines.

Monsanto and Scotts Miracle-Gro have not.

There’s no way I want these convicted corporate criminals—with long histories of abuses that harm people, animals, and the environment—bullying the community I love so much.

In another case, Scotts KNOWINGLY sold poisoned bird food that killed tens of thousands of birds, and got off with a small fine.

Monsanto and Scotts Miracle-Gro are longtime business partners and allies of the US military and drug war, producing and distributing deadly poisons sprayed by American drug warriors on people, animals, coca and marijuana plants, and forests in foreign countries such as Columbia.

The company sells its deadly poisons under the Ortho brand and now controls more than half of the consumer pesticides, fertilizers, soils, and grass seeds market.

And because Scotts Miracle-Gro has such a close business affiliation with Monsanto, one of the world’s leading GMO corporations, many analysts suspect that Scotts and Monsanto will team up to create GMO marijuana strains and seeds.

These of the kinds of motherfuckers muscling into our industry.

Right now, the giants are hiding in the shadows, gathering their troops, sharpening their weapons, and planning their assault.

And when the federal government legalizes marijuana, make no mistake, they will attack.

Just like Big Tobacco did to tobacco farmers, Big Marijuana will “rape and pillage” our community and squeeze out the bulk of the commercial growers.

How many mom and pop tobacco farmers you know of who make a good living today?

Not many. They’ve been squeezed out. Big Tobacco now owns that industry.

And with deep pockets, the right connections, and unlimited resources at their disposal, Big Marijuana will soon own ours.

They have an army of lobbyists to ensure their weed is what goes to market, not yours.

They will use their immense resources to push for laws that would make it hard, if not impossible, for the average Joe to receive a license allowing them to grow for commercial purposes.

They will do everything in their power to make it so that every marijuana user in the world has to rely on THEM for their marijuana.

And, at least in America, their loyal allies—the United States Government, as well as state governments across the country—will help make sure of it.

Unfortunately, most members of our community are going to get their asses kicked.

I, however, refuse to go down. In fact, I’m going to get smarter, stronger, and more focused. I’m going to rise above and flip the bird to Big Marijuana every step of the way.

Now if you’re as passionate about your cannabis business as I am, and are willing to educate yourself, take bold action, and do what the fuck needs to be done, then you will no doubt seize your share of the marijuana gold and continue to thrive for years, and even decades, to come.

To help you I will soon be releasing a free report titled What Big Marijuana Doesn’tWant You to Know—And How to Kick Ass in the New Cannabis Economy.

Whether you’re a grower, own a retail weed store or hydroponic shop, manufacture edibles, vape pens, or growing equipment, or are looking to launch a business that has anything to do with marijuana, this report may be the most important thing you’ll ever read.

Because you’re going to discover…

Why our industry is ass backwards, how that’s about to change, and what this means to YOU.

Why strains will no longer matter.

What weed consumers will soon expect and DEMAND.

How and where cannabis will be grown.

The three roles of every weed entrepreneur (and which one you need to focus on most if you want to make big profits for a long time).

The Three Pillars of Pot Revenue

How small improvements most in our industry have no idea about can double, triple, or even quadruple your profits.

The one skill every marijuana entrepreneur must have.

The most important lessons I’ve learned over the past 33 years in the marijuana industry.

How I built a $90-million-a-year cannabis business.

The most effective marketing methods (less than 1% of the people in our industry have ever heard of a style of marketing that makes me tens of millions of dollars each year).

You’re also going to learn how to…

Close more deals.

Make more sales.

Get more done in less time.

Overcome the many obstacles our community will soon face.

Influence partners, employees, distributors, and customers.

Outwit and outsell your competitors.

Become a leader others will want to follow.

Build a team of loyal, hardworking, productive workers.

Win more negotiations.

Systematize your operations.

Implement marketing strategies almost no one in our industry knows about.

Differentiate yourself from the competition.

Rise to the top of the market.

Make a killing in our industry no matter how hard Big Marijuana tries to force you out of business.

… and much more

So keep an eye on your email inbox for my report, What Big Marijuana Doesn’t Want You to Know—And How to Kick Ass in the New Cannabis Economy, which I’ll soon be sending you.

And if you’re not subscribed to my email newsletter, you can subscribe by submitting your email into the little box in the very bottom right corner of this site, or at the top of the homepage.

Sure, if you grew it or had the right connections, you could enjoy year-round buds. But most smokers found themselves with an empty sack and a bowl full of resin a helluva lot more often than they wanted.

I’m not saying smokers rarely had weed. In fact, more often than not they were flush. However, they wanted a plump satchel all the time—365 days a year.

But that wasn’t a reality for most people.

Every so often they’d be forced to endure periods when product was scarce—like during the “dry” summers, when none of their connects could get their hands on anything.

And even if they could hunt down a bag, it was typically harsh, seedy, stemmy, low THC schwag weed. Ugh!

A lot of people even had to smoke this crap year round because it was all they could get. Good weed rarely crossed their paths. So it was shit weed most of the year, peppered with periods of desperately trying to get their hands on something…anything…no matter how bad it was.

Good ol’ fashioned Mexi weed—Yuck!

Mexi weed would make its way across the border from Mexico into Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California, where it could be purchased south of the United States interior border checkpoints—which are usually within 25–75 miles of the U.S./Mexican border—for $100 to $300 per pound, depending on who you knew and how much you purchased.

As it made its way north and/or east, everyone who touched it made a hefty profit, often doubling their money when breaking it down into lesser quantities.

The guy who picked up 200 pounds in San Diego for $175 a pound could break it down into 10- or 20-pound loads to sell to guys in Los Angeles for $350 or $400 a pound. Those guys could then sell single pounds for $600 or quarter pounds for $200 in L.A., or FedEx it to distributors in northern and northeastern states for $1000 a pound (or more).

Low-level dealers in places like Los Angeles could then sell ounces for $125, and quarter ounces for $40, $45, or even $50—for Mexican shit weed!

Now, obviously, prices varied based on factors such as location, who your connections were, and how dry or saturated the market was.

And, throughout the year, Mexican weed wasn’t the only product making its way into the hands of American smokers—there was also Columbian weed, a little Thai stick here and there, homegrown bud, etc.

Still, if, like me, you sold weed in the ‘80s or ‘90s, or even in the early 2000s before dispensaries and recreational stores began opening, your profit margins were enormous no matter what kind you were selling.

And if you had the good shit, like some quality hydro, your product was in high demand and you could practically name your price. Getting $4500, $5000, or even more per pound wasn’t uncommon. If your product was AAA, people would happily fork over $400 to $450 for an ounce—about the price of a pound of Mexi weed.

Before I was arrested in 2001, depending on how far the weed had to travel, if borders were involved, and how much the distributor was purchasing (most purchased 30–300 pounds at a time), I typically demanded $2800 to $3400 per pound.

Now my crew grew much of this weed. I set growers up in barns, houses, and warehouses and split the profits with them down the middle (after I’d recouped my investment for equipment, property costs, buildout, trimmers, and paying my guy from the utility company to covertly divert electricity to the grows).

Even after all these expenses, my profits were approximately $1000 per pound.

And, demand was so high I had to buy weed from other growers and brokers to fill it. When I did, I profited an average of $400 a pound.

And between the weed my crew grew and weed I’d purchased from others, I was moving 1000 pounds a week on average.

Now there were a lot of expenses that came out of my own pocket. For example, I employed a security and counter-surveillance team, attorneys for everyone—if someone on my crew went down, I immediately bailed them out and paid all their legal fees—accountants, four different managers who each oversaw a handful of my growers, drivers to deliver the weed to its destination, etc.

Even after all that there were still plenty of profits left over, and I was able to consistently expand the organization.

But while profit margins in the illegal marijuana industry were huge, so were the risks.

Growers and sellers risked their freedom every day. In some states you could spend decades in prison if you were caught.

And if you were going to risk spending years behind bars, you were damn sure going to make a hefty profit.

Additionally, in the ’80s and even ‘90s, rare was the grower who knew what they were doing. Information was sparse, the science had yet to evolve, and most growers didn’t know a bunch of other growers they could learn from and share ideas with.

Plus, quality nutrients and fertilizers weren’t available like they are now. So even the best growers still lacked the science and plant food to deliver the kinds of THC levels we’re seeing today.

Since then, science has made giant leaps toward deciphering how to take marijuana to its true genetic potential.

Information is readily available on your phone and at your local hydro shop.

You can give your plants optimal ratios of the precise nutrients they need to produce heavy yields of potent marijuana.

And everyone knows five, ten, or twenty people who are growing and selling—including their grandma, the city councilman living next door, and the religious family with twelve home-schooled kids across the street. You may not know they’re growing. But they are.

And this abundance of high-potency product has slashed its price and hollowed out profit margins.

As of this writing, the average grower of high-quality bud in the United States sells pounds on the legal market for an average of $1800 to $2200.

In Colorado the price has dropped to $1400 to $1600 per pound.

This is for marijuana that’s better than what once sold for two to three times as much on the black market.

And profits have only begun to dwindle.

Big Marijuana will have the ability to streamline their operations, pay workers crap money to manage the grows, and purchase equipment and supplies for as little as possible because they can buy in bulk.

And since growing outdoors cuts the cost of production to a fraction of what it is indoors, commercial production will move to greenhouses, utilizing light deprivation and light supplementation to grow the product.

Themajority of production will move to Third World countries, where both land and labor are cheap. When the marijuana is grown, the cannabinoids and terpenes will be extracted and shipped to the United States in 55-gallon drums.

This means Big Marijuana will be able to hawk their product for much less than everybody else.

Within a few years, the average price for a pound of weed may sink to $500 or $600, which means growing marijuana will no longer be profitable for 99% of the growers in our community.

Growers will be left with little option but to sell their product to the big boys for a fraction of what they’re able to sell it for now. And they’ll be fighting over pennies. It’s already started. But just wait a few years. You ain’t seen nothing yet. It’s about to get bloody.

Because of all this, my advice to most—not all, but most—commercial growers is…

Right now—before the bubble bursts—grow as much weed as you can and make as much money as you can.

It’s better to walk away with something than nothing, right?

But, if you play your cards right, you could thrive in the weed industry for years to come.

To find out how, keep an eye on your email inbox for What Big Marijuana Doesn’tWant You to Know—And How to Kick Ass in the New Cannabis Economy which I’ll soon be sending you.

And if you’re not subscribed to my email newsletter, you can subscribe by submitting your email into the little box in the very bottom right corner of this site, or at the top of the homepage.

Other states—such as Oregon, Alaska, California, Massachusetts, Maine, Nevada, as well as the District of Columbia—have followed Colorado and Washington’s lead and legalized recreational marijuana, and more are hopping onboard.

Weed is now legal along the entire Pacific Coast! How cool is that?

AND…over half of the 50 states have already legalized medical marijuana and there’s a good chance that recreational marijuana will soon be legal on a federal level.

Not only is there an enormous amount of weed being grown and sold right now, a lot of jobs are opening to meet the demand—marijuana is one helluva big employer.

Profits. Employment. Tax revenue.

We are booming. And the boom will only continue to get bigger.

Between recreational and medical marijuana, sales in the United States rose from $4.6 billion in 2014 to $5.4 billion in 2015. That’s a 17.4% increase.

And sales are expected to soar to $6.7 billion this year (2016)—a 25% increase.

And check this out…

By 2020, it’s estimated we’ll hit $21.8 billion.

$21.8 billion!

$21,800,000,000.00

That’s a lot of damn money.

And that doesn’t even include revenue from grow equipment, nutrients, smoking devices, etc.

That’s $21.8 million in weed alone.

Imagine what it’s going to be like.

Can you see it, smell it, and taste it?

I can.

But so can Big Marijuana.

Many commercial growers realized their days of cultivation for profit were numbered when, while watching this year’s NBA playoffs, they saw the 30-second commercial for the hydroponics company Black Magic, with products available exclusively at Home Depot.

A national ad for hydroponics products during an NBA playoff?

Products at Home Depot?

Damn…

The subtext was clear:

Big Marijuana has arrived.

What was once a passion for the few and the proud is now morphing into big business for those with the deepest pockets (and, as history has proven, the coldest hearts).

Now this commercial upset a lot of growers.

And not just because they realized their primary source of income may soon be drying up, but because they understood something far more sinister was a work.

But before I go into specifics, it’s important to understand that…

Knowing that the marijuana economy can dump huge sums of money in their laps, big money investors are dying to get into our industry right now.

Microsoft is even on board, announcing in June that it would partner with Kind Financial, a company that develops software financial technology for the cannabis industry.

States that have legalized recreational marijuana are eager for these investors to help finance their piece of the booming weed industry.

The Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board eliminated the six-month residency requirement for investors, inviting investors from around the United States to own as much as 49% of an operation.

Oregon has approved similar rules.

And Colorado will most likely follow and do away with the two-year residency requirement for marijuana financiers.

Now, on top of out-of-state investors with deep pockets and big plans, there’s no shortage of in-state investors willing to put their money into our growing industry—investors who’ve never grown a single plant themselves, and many of whom have never even taken a hit off a joint (okay, well, they smoked once with Bill Clinton, but didn’t inhale).

Fortunately, right now this is on a state level.

But imagine what’s going to happen when marijuana is legal on a federal level.

That’s when the REAL mushroom-cloud-laying motherfuckers will get in the game, ready and able to demolish whatever and—with the exception of a few brave souls—whoever is in their path.

Here’s what’s going to happen…

Today, if someone lives in a fairly progressive state, they typically go to a dispensary or retail marijuana store to buy their cannabis. There, they can pick out a strain that gives them the type of feeling they want. They might buy candies, baked goods, or lozenges, but for the most part they’re picking up flowers.

Now, like I spoke about recently in another recent post, in the next five to ten years, while that dispensary or retail marijuana store may still exist, the majority of users will buy their cannabis at convenience stores and grocery stores.

Lori Ajax – California’s first weed czar

Bureaucrats who’ve transferred from alcohol control to cannabis control, such as Lori Ajax, the first chief of California’s Bureau of Medical Marijuana Regulation, will want to follow the model they’re familiar with—a model they understand—which means plugging marijuana distribution into the current distribution outlets for alcohol. Which, by the way, are the same distribution points for cigarettes.

And who already has distribution set up amongst these stores?

That’s right. Big Alcohol and Big Tobacco.

They’ll easily swoop in and replicate the model they currently have in place, while the rest of the industry brawls over crumbs in the carpet.

Now, as I write this, a lot of consumers 45 and over still like to smoke flowers.

But consumers younger than 45 prefer edibles and concentrates.

In fact, e-cigs, vape pens, and edibles are the fastest-growing sectors in the marketplace. And edibles are currently responsible for 50% of Colorado’s gross marijuana revenue.

But in the future…

Everyone but a SMALL handful of old-timers will consume some form of concentrate.

They’ll consume it in an edible, pill, vape pen, e-cig, or in a cream.

And that product will be standardized, branded, and marketed just like Coca Cola.

Here’s why…

What most of the world doesn’t realize yet is that we’re wired for weed—literally—via our endocannabinoid system.

This system helps control basic physiological processes like pain modulation, memory, appetite, and immune system responses.

And CBD, CBN, and THC—the main cannabinoids in cannabis, the chemicals that get you high—fit like lock and key into these receptors.

When consumers go to the store, they’re going pick out their marijuana products based on what problem they want it to solve or how they want it to make them feel.

The average user is not going to worry about strain. Strains matter to growers. Outcome is what matters to users.

And consumers will make their purchases based on the outcome they want.

They’ll choose products with labels that state the outcome right on the bottle.

Currently, edible users are ahead of the curve. They’re far more interested in outcome than they are what strain the source material for the concentrate inside their candy originated from.

The rest of the market will soon follow.

Now, not only will consumers purchase outcomes over strains…

They’ll expect to achieve the same outcome every time they use a product. (I discuss this in detail in a brand new free report I’ll soon be sending you.)

Consistency and outcome is the future. The near future.

In fact, consumers will soon be able to download their genetic profile, get it analyzed, and, within minutes, know the cannabinoid and terpene profile they’ll react best to and that will provide them with their desired result.

And while picking up coffee, toilet paper, and body lotion at the grocery store, they’ll grab the concentrate (or products made with concentrates) that match their genetic profile.

But that’s not all…

I predict by 2025 a lot of marijuana on the market will be grown with CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) technology.

CRISPR technology will produce genetically modified marijuana that can be manipulated to thrive not only both indoors or outdoors, but based specifically on where—geographically—it’s grown outdoors.

Not only that, but it will also generate cannabis to meet the precise outcomes consumers desire.

In the future, only a small number of hobbyists will grow and smoke marijuana like we do today.

Don’t get me wrong, people will still consume cannabis to get high. But when they pick out their product, they’ll be thinking about what kind of high they want to have. Do they want to be more creative? Do they want to relax? Do they want to have great sex?

It’ll tell you right on the label what that product will do for you, what it contains, and what the dosage is—just like over-the-counter drugs do.

And soon, when the world thinks about marijuana, they’re not going to think potheads.

They’re going to think of the woman who takes cannabis for postpartum depression or as part of her skin-care regimen.

They’re going to think of the guy who takes a little to help his ADD or who drinks a cannabis shake after his workout for muscle repair.

But probably more likely than any of these, cannabis will be so ubiquitous that when you think about the person who uses it, you’re not going to think about anybody in particular at all.

And because of this ubiquity, the gold rush is going to take off like a bat out of hell. It will hit colossal proportions.

Colorado was just the beginning.

In 2020, the cannabis industry will be bigger than the NFL.

In 2030, it’ll be bigger than beer.

And soon after that, it will be bigger than wheat, corn, and soybeans combined.

There’s huge opportunity in our industry for the right people.

But where there’s opportunity and profit, there’s also corruption.

Remember that commercial for Black Magic that aired during the NBA playoffs I told you about?

And how unsettling it was for our community?

What I didn’t tell you was that Black Magic is actually a subsidiary of Scott’s Miracle-Gro.

Back in 2011, I warned growers we’d likely see GMO, pesticide, herbicide, and chemical companies like Monsanto and Scotts Miracle-Gro try to devour our precious industry.

And I correctly predicted that Maximum Yield Magazine, General Hydroponics, and other collaborators would facilitate entry of corporate giants like Monsanto and Scotts Miracle-Gro into the hydroponics marketplace.

I also warned that the Scotts Miracle-Gro marijuana industry buyout would harm local hydroponics stores by undercutting them and selling hydroponics products via corporate retailers such as Home Depot and Wal-Mart.

And now it’s happening:

Since 2015, through a front company and via other methods, Scotts Miracle-Gro has purchased General Hydroponics (the #2 brand in the USA), Botanicare (the #5 brand in the USA) and Gavita Lights (the #1 lighting brand).

And Scotts is using its massive distribution channels at Home Depot to sell Black Magic.

This should be of great concern to every single grower, equipment manufacturer, and store owner in our community.

In fact, Scotts Miracle-Gro CEO, elite 1% millionaire Jim Hagedorn with his hundreds of millions of dollars to burn, announced he’s planning a Scotts Miracle-Gro marijuana takeover by investing $500 MILLION to commandeer the marijuana hydroponics nutrients, equipment, and retailing industries.

And make no mistake, Hagedorn aims to put small grow shops out of business completely.

A recent Forbes article said he compares the lawn and garden business to warfare. He’s quoted as saying:

“Today the way wars happen, you don’t get to keep all the stuff. To me this is one where in commercial combat you kind of rape and pillage, and you keep all of the stuff.”

Rape and pillage—his words, not mine.

Now is Scotts advertising that Black Magic is designed for marijuana? Of course not. They’re not part of our community, nor will they proudly stand up for you and the cannabis you grow.

So instead, with a wink wink and a nudge nudge, Scotts sells Black Magic for “tomato growers.”

The people who built the marijuana industry and showed the world marijuana is good medicine are the home growers, companies like Advanced Nutrients, seed breeders, cannabis retailers, hydroponics stores, and activists.

We’ve all put in years of hard work on the front lines.

And now corporate raiders like Scotts Miracle-Gro are out to steal our achievements and destroy as many of us as they can.

Monsanto and Scotts Miracle-Gro are convicted corporate criminals with long histories of abuses that harm people, animals, and the environment.

In another case, Scotts KNOWINGLY sold poisoned bird food that killed tens of thousands of birds, and got off with a small fine.

Monsanto and Scotts Miracle-Gro are longtime business partners and allies of the US military and drug war, producing and distributing deadly poisons sprayed by American drug warriors on people, animals, coca and marijuana plants, and forests in foreign countries such as Columbia.

The company sells its deadly poisons under the Ortho brand and now controls more than half of the consumer pesticides, fertilizers, soils, and grass seeds market.

And because Scotts Miracle-Gro has such a close business affiliation with Monsanto, one of the world’s leading GMO corporations, many analysts suspect that Scotts and Monsanto will team up to create GMO marijuana strains and seeds.

These of the kinds of motherfuckers taking over our industry.

Are they all as evil as Scotts?

Of course not.

However, they do all want to suck every penny out of our industry that they can, and away from all the hardworking growers in our community, many who’ve dedicated their lives to growing marijuana.

And, like Scotts, many of them have a history of dealing in poison and death.

Monsanto, who have a chokehold on the farming industry, campaigned like crazy to get cannabis legalized in Uruguay.

Now that it’s legal, they’re figuring out how to mass produce the same kind of Frankenplants they grow in the US.

Syqe received $33 million in total investments for this device and Big Pharma giant Teva holds exclusive marketing and distribution rights in Isreal. This is the first time a major pharmaceutical company has agreed to distribute a medical marijuana product. And one thing’s for certain: it won’t be the last.

So if you want to design and manufacture your own vape pens or e-cigs, you’ll need between $2 million and $10 million to meet the new guidelines.

Don’t have millions of dollars? Tough shit. Big Marijuana does. And the United States Government is more than happy to take it from them.

Given what’s going on in mass-produced agriculture, the fact that only 40% to 60% of what’s in a cigarette is actually tobacco, and the amount of money big pharmaceutical companies pump into Washington to maintain their competitive edge, we don’t have to stretch very far to imagine where this is going to go.

Right now, the giants are hiding in the shadows, gathering their troops, sharpening their weapons, and planning their assault.

And when the federal government legalizes marijuana, make no mistake, they will attack.

Just like Big Tobacco did to tobacco farmers, Big Marijuana will “rape and pillage” our community and squeeze out the bulk of the commercial growers.

How many mom and pop tobacco farmers you know of who make a good living today?

Not many. They’ve been squeezed out. Big Tobacco now owns that industry.

And Big Marijuana will soon own ours.

And it’ll be a cinch.

They have deep pockets, the right connections, and brilliant business minds at their disposal.

They have an army of lobbyists to ensure their weed is what goes to market, not yours.

They will use their immense resources to push for laws that would make it hard, if not impossible, for the average Joe to receive a license allowing them to grow for commercial purposes.

They will do everything in their power to make it so that every marijuana user in the world has to rely on THEM for their marijuana.

And, at least in America, their loyal allies—the United States Government, as well as state governments across the country—will help make sure of it.

Now, sure, you’ll be allowed to grow for personal use…

…but the days of running 25-light grows as a collective will soon be over.

Big Marijuana has come to drink your fucking milkshake.

I’m not trying to bum you out here.

What I’m trying to do is give you a clear picture of where we’re headed.

We love growing it, smelling it, smoking it, selling it, talking about it, and thinking about it, as well as surrounding ourselves with other people who love it.

You may even be a gazer like I am, staring at the colas in your garden for hours at a time, in a complete state of awe at the beauty that stands before you.

We do this because we love it, not just because we see dollar signs in it.

Many of us started with nothing except for our love of marijuana and a desire to get out of the rat race.

We’ve had to live in fear of the police kicking down our doors, hauling us off to jail and our plants to the incinerator.

Banks wouldn’t loan us money or allow us to open business accounts.

The entire system was against us.

We’ve given our lives to our grows and our businesses, and spilled gallons of blood, sweat, and tears to get to where we are.

Our heart is in this thing.

Our dedication is like that of a mother for her child.

If you’re as passionate about your cannabis business as I am, and are willing to educate yourself, take bold action, and do what the fuck needs to be done, then you will no doubt seize your share of the marijuana gold.

To help you I will soon be releasing a free report titled What Big Marijuana Doesn’tWant You to Know—And How to Kick Ass in the New Cannabis Economy.

Whether you’re a grower, own a retail weed store or hydroponic shop, manufacture edibles, vape pens, or growing equipment, or are looking to launch a business that has anything to do with marijuana, this report may be the most important thing you’ll ever read.

Because you’re going to discover…

Why our industry is ass backwards, how that’s about to change, and what this means to YOU.

Why strains will no longer matter.

What weed consumers will soon expect and DEMAND.

How and where cannabis will be grown.

The three roles of every weed entrepreneur (and which one you need to focus on most if you want to make big profits for a long time).

The Three Pillars of Pot Revenue

How small improvements most in our industry have no idea about can double, triple, or even quadruple your profits.

The one skill every marijuana entrepreneur must have.

The most important lessons I’ve learned over the past 33 years in the marijuana industry.

How I built an over $100-million-a-year cannabis business.

The most effective marketing methods (less than 1% of the people in our industry have ever heard of a style of marketing that makes me tens of millions of dollars each year).

You’re also going to learn how to…

Close more deals.

Make more sales.

Get more done in less time.

Overcome the many obstacles our community will soon face.

Influence partners, employees, distributors, and customers.

Outwit and outsell your competitors.

Become a leader others will want to follow.

Build a team of loyal, hardworking, productive workers.

Win more negotiations.

Systematize your operations.

Implement marketing strategies almost no one in our industry knows about.

Differentiate yourself from the competition.

Rise to the top of the market.

Make a killing in our industry no matter how hard Big Marijuana tries to force you out of business.

… and much more

Now, if you’re new to this blog and don’t know me yet, you may be wondering…

To put it simply, I’m a guy in the trenches who loves and is passionate about both marijuana and business.

And I’ve been involved in both longer than many marijuana growers and distributors have been alive.

In 2001, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police called me British Columbia’s Tony Soprano. A veritable Marijuana Don, they said. That I ran a conspiracy they estimated had produced and smuggled $50 million worth of marijuana from Canada into the United States in a 12-month period.

In 1983, after busting my tail to construct my first 500-square-foot grow room in the back of a lawn fertilizing business I owned, I sat back in a chair, victorious, admiring what I’d built.

I was in a state of wonder. It was like seeing the stars in the sky for the first time. Silly, I know. But to me it was a huge deal.

It was freedom.

I got so excited staring at those tiny plants that I masturbated.

And not once did the thought of a woman cross my mind. (And to all the wiseasses reading this: No, the thought of a man didn’t cross my mind either.)

The only females I thought of were the little green ones in the pots before me, climbing toward the life-giving lights overhead.

I contemplated how much bud they would yield, what it was going to smell like and taste like, and how much money I was going to make.

I pictured giant grows—in houses, warehouses, fields, and swamps.

And I saw piles of money—stacks of cash in duffle bags, safes, and safe-deposit boxes.

At 23 years old, leaning back in an old office chair with my lap rocket in my hand, gazing at my baby plants and grow room, the synapses in my brain forged new and powerful connections, linking marijuana, money, and sex, forever altering the course of my life.

I cracked the door to the room the next morning with excitement and anticipation—I was sooo pumped to see how my little green beauties had done overnight.

My heart sank…

Each and every one of them was dead—fried damn near to a crisp. I hadn’t properly ventilated the room, and the heat took the lives of my young plants—D’oh!

I’d killed my first crop.

Since then, I’ve successfully grown, and overseen the growing of, over

1,000,000 marijuana plants.

I’ve made more money in a month growing and selling weed than most people will see in their lifetime.

I’ve taken my company, Advanced Nutrients, which manufactures the #1 best-selling line of cannabis-specific nutrients in the world, from nothing to over $100 million a year in sales, with customers in over 100 countries across the globe. We employ hundreds of people and our nutrients are in more grow rooms than any other brand in the world.

So, I like to think I know a little bit about what I’m talking about.

I may have OCD, ADD, and dyslexia and gotten Cs, Ds, and Fs in history, English, and home economics (I couldn’t memorize boring facts, spell, or sew worth a damn, and the quiche I made tasted like cheesy asphalt)…

And I’ve fallen on my face countless times.

But weed and business are two subjects I’ve dedicated my life to mastering and you’d be hard-pressed to find a man or woman alive who knows more about the marriage of these two subjects than I do.

Not only have I read thousands of books and studies on botany, cannabis, business, leadership, sales, marketing, mindset, and philosophy and spent tens of thousands of hours with my nose buried in plant research papers, I’ve tested every business strategy and growing method you can imagine. I even ran extensive cannabis testing for the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT) and the University of Canada (UBC).

I was the technical consultant for the hit Showtime series Weeds and the movie Pineapple Express.

I employ a team of 23 full-time PhDs, as well as hundreds of growers from across the globe, all working their asses off to help me take marijuana to its true genetic potential.

Warning:If you’re easily offended by a few F Bombs, you may want to pass on reading this post. I’m very passionate about the topic I’m about to discuss with you and after reading what I wrote noticed I used the F Word a bit more than I normally would in a blog post. To the easily offended: you’ve been warned.

I’ve met a lot of growers who want to take their crops to the next level. They want bigger grows, heavier yields, and tastier, more potent buds. But they haven’t done anything about it. They’re still growing in that same tiny spare bedroom in their house or in those tents they keep in their garage.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I have nothing against growing small. I’m not here to tell anyone that they should aspire to grow bigger. I respect the grower who runs a few plants for personal use and to sell to their friends as much as I respect the guys running hundreds of lights. If you’re growing one plant or 10,000, I think that’s awesome. You are one of my people. My family.

When it comes to the growers who talk about going bigger, who want, wish, and hope to go bigger, but don’t do a damn thing about it…well, I just can’t relate.

If you want something, go out and grab it by the fucking balls. Whether it’s commercial-sized grows, your dream house, your ideal mate, the career, business or hobby you’ve always wanted to start, making millions of dollars, getting lean and healthy, starting a fucking revolution, gaining a new skill, becoming a black belt in Jiu-Jitsu, experiencing new things, or just enjoying a simple life.

Whatever it is, if you want it, go after it as if not achieving or attaining it would mean taking a bullet to the head.

There’s no excuse for not giving your all to the journey between where you are and where you want to be. Plenty of people have overcome far greater obstacles than you or I will ever face.

I don’t care if you have six children, no car, a learning disability, are in debt up to your eyeballs, are missing a fucking limb, have no connections, and your dog ate your homework: if your WHY—your reason for achieving, attaining, or experiencing the thing(s) you want—is big enough, you’ll find a way.

And if your WHY isn’t big enough, then, quite possibly, what you’re reaching for isn’t what you actually want. At least not enough to go after it as if your life depends on it. You may think you really want it, but if there’s no fire in your belly, then there’s a good chance you just kinda sorta want it and would be better off finding a goal where every cell in your body conspires with the pit of your soul to say: I have to fucking have that…NOW.

When you feel that, you’re onto something.

Now, if you don’t feel that way about growing, maybe you’re best off remaining content with the current size and performance of your grows or should even get out of growing all together, if you don’t truly enjoy it, and find something that you’d do everything short of steal or kill for to do or attain.

Just like many of the most successful growers and businessmen I know, I started with damn near nothing.

I was raised in lower-middle class family that lived month to month and was constantly in turmoil.

I had an alcoholic and painkiller-addicted mother and a father who let me roam the streets doing whatever the hell I wanted, whenever the hell I wanted. Their fights were so bad our house would look like a riot had taken place—busted furniture, broken glass, food on the walls and floor. To escape the chaos I ran away many times and would steal to get by, which landed me in juvenile hall.

I also had severe dyslexia and ADHD and was put on heavy benzodiazepines at an early age.

But here’s what I had going for me: I was discontent.

I did not want to continue living in the kind of conditions I’d been raised in. I didn’t want to just get by, struggle to make ends meet.

I was fascinated by the plant, how it grew, helped relieved peoples’ stress, and how much money it was worth.

I nerded-out on it to the extreme.

Yes, I was, and still am, a geek for the weed. A natural progression of my pre-juvenile delinquent days, when I was a rail-thin schoolboy with bony knees, coke-bottle glasses, and a ten-foot space around me that no girl who didn’t want to be the laughing stock of her friends would dare enter. I’d spend countless hours on a planet far, far away from the cool, and normal, kids with my nose buried in science magazines. It pains me even to think about it.

I was the same way with growing—obsessed.

After my second crop came in—I killed the first one—I made it my goal to become the best grower in the world, bring marijuana to its true genetic potential, and attain complete financial freedom from growing. I would not settle for less.

In the process of chasing these goals, I’ve been ripped off, arrested, and had crops completely bottom out.

But I persisted and was able to bring thousands of pounds of BC Bud to market each and every month. By the year 2000, it was often thousands of pounds per week.

That same year, I wanted to create the highest-quality line of cannabis nutrients in the world and share those nutrients with growers across the globe.

And I made a ton of mistakes. I blew shit up, got blood on the floor, and made decisions that almost cost me the business.

I’ve been in the red, been sued, and been burned.

The government tried to shut the company down.

Major distributors and other hydroponic companies attempted to blacklist me from the industry because I was the only one in the business who not only admitted, but also blatantly stated, what my products were for—growing marijuana, NOT tomatoes and orchids. Those greedy SOBs even had their lawyers send a letter to grow stores stating that anyone who purchased or sold my products risked being arrested.

But I trudged forward.

And today, Advanced Nutrients does over $105 million in annual sales.

And at last count we’re in over 100 countries.

We sell more cannabis-specific nutrients than any other company in the world.

Now, I don’t say this to try to sound cool. I say this to remind you that if you work hard and have a big enough WHY, you will accomplish your goals.

We all know this. But we all need to be reminded from time to time, because it’s easy to get up caught up in the day-to-day battles and forget the bigger picture. It’s easy to steer off course.

Writing this helps me remember, as well.

It’s important to stay on track.

Because I hustled my ass off for things I had to achieve—or else my soul would have given me so much shit, I would have ended up one of the most miserable bastards in the world—today I can say that if you’ve grown or even just consumed marijuana, you’ve benefited from something I’ve done.

It’s not Howie-Mandel-out-of-control, but the symptoms can be severe at times.

Fortunately, I haven’t had a lot of OCD flareups lately. I mostly keep it directed at my business, obsessively finding new and better ways to grow marijuana.

Tipping the scales at over 300 pounds. I call it my DEA/RCMP/Competitors-and-Government-Trying-to-Shut-Me-Down-Stress-Weight —D’oh!

But during times of great stress, like when the DEA, RCMP, and FBI were barreling down on me in 2001, it can get a little crazy. Must look funny to anyone watching me, this guy flicking lights on and off for no reason and twisting doorknobs eighty times before opening a door. Seeing it from the outside, I’d think it was funny, too.

I also gained a bunch of weight during that period. The stress of knowing I’d be arrested any day caused me to reach for food. And throughout the case and the initial years of building Advanced Nutrients, I kept reaching. I eventually ballooned up to over 300 pounds.

Finally, I decided to do something about it and began eating healthy and exercising daily again. I hadn’t consistently lifted weights or done cardio in years. But I pushed myself through the workouts, pushed away plates of fatty and unhealthy foods and lost over fifty pounds and have kept it off for years.

And I was able to do that because my WHY was big enough. I have a daughter and she needs her father around. I’m not much good to her underground.

If the reason WHY you want expand your growing operations is big enough, then you’ll get busy and do it, no matter how many obstacles stand in your way, or how many naysayers tell you that you can’t do it.

If your reason WHY isn’t big enough, find something else to do. I’m not saying get out of growing. Grow as much or little as you want. Grow in a way that makes you happy.

But also find something that lights a fire under your ass and go get it.

And remember, embrace the journey, the effort, the act of creation, even more so than the outcome. The juice is in the adventure. But that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s always fun. It is, however, always fulfilling.

At least that’s been my experience.

Talk soon,
Big Mike

P.S. Right now I’m wrapping up a free report for you titled What Big Marijuana Doesn’t Want You To Know. It’s all about the future of the cannabis industry and how you can be one of the few to succeed while most commercial growers and weed entrepreneurs get squeezed out by Big Marijuana.

For the past decade, Advanced Nutrients has been helping growers consistently pull 2 pounds per light. In fact, we were the first ones to do it. Once in a while I’d hear about a grower getting 3+ per light, but it was rare.

Well, that’s all changed.

Growers are now routinely yielding 3+ pounds per light.

And I’m not talking about plants with special genetics. Growers are able to achieve these types of results over a wide range of genetics and strains.

To help you enjoy similar yield sizes, my friends at Truckee Horticulture Center have created a video series for you showing you everything you need to know.

Today, if someone lives in a fairly progressive state, they typically go to a dispensary to buy their cannabis. There, they can pick out a strain that gives them the type of feeling they want: it could be called Golden Goat, Trainwreck, or Banana Kush. They might buy candies, baked goods, or lozenges, but for the most part they’re picking up flowers.

In the future, and I’m talking 5 to 10 years, that dispensary will still exist, but most people will buy their cannabis at convenience stores, grocery stores, department stores—even pet stores.

And only people nostalgic for the “good old days” will smoke flowers.

Everyone else will consume some form of concentrate—in an edible, in a vape pen or e-cig, in a pill, or in a cream. And that product will be standardized, branded, and marketed just like Coca Cola.

See, what most of the world doesn’t realize yet is that we are wired for weed—literally.

How?

Because of our endocannabinoid system. It helps control basic physiological processes like pain modulation, memory, appetite, and immune system responses.

And CBD, CBN, and THC—the main cannabinoids in cannabis, the chemicals that get you high—fit like lock and key into these receptors.

As a result, weed, marijuana, cannabis—whatever you want to call it—can have a significant effect on:

Alzheimer’s

Obesity

Allergies

Osteoperosis

Heart disease

Hypertension

Stroke

Anxiety disorders of all kinds

Diabetes

Cancer

Muscle repair

Right now, the medical community is discovering that there’s a significant portion of the population whose bodies don’t have the enzyme that processes B vitamins so they can be absorbed into cells—or it’s not fully functioning.

It’s called MTHFR. This causes all sorts of havoc—everything from Alzheimer’s to weight gain.

For these people, cannabis contains a full spectrum of B vitamins that are naturally preprocessed so they can be absorbed into the body.

This is the kind of thing people will be thinking about when they go to the store, and they’ll pick out their products based on what problem they want it to solve or how they want it to make them feel.

They’ll make their purchases based on the outcome they want.

Yes, people will still consume cannabis to get high. But when they go to the store to pick out their product, they’ll be thinking about what kind of high they want to have. Do they want to be more creative? Do they want to relax? Do they want to have great sex?

It’ll tell you right on the label what that product will do for you, what it contains, and what the dosage is.

But more and more people will buy cannabis like they buy over-the-counter drugs.

And soon, when the world thinks about marijuana they’re not going to think potheads.

They’re going to think of the woman who takes cannabis for post-partum depression.

They’re going to think of the woman who uses cannabis in her skin-care regiment.

And they’re going to think of the guy who drinks a cannabis shake after his workout for muscle repair.

But probably more likely than any of these, cannabis will be so ubiquitous, when you think about the person who uses it, you’re not going to think about any body in particular at all.

And because of this ubiquity, we’re going to see a gold rush.

Colorado was just the beginning.

In 2020, the cannabis industry will be bigger than the NFL.

In 2030, it’ll be bigger than beer.

And soon after that, it will be bigger than wheat, corn, and soybeans combined.

There’s huge opportunity here for the right people.

But where there’s opportunity and profit, there’s also corruption.

Monsanto, the folks who have a chokehold on the farming industry, campaigned like crazy to get cannabis legalized in Uruguay. Now that it’s legal, they’re figuring out how to mass produce the same kind of Frankenplants they grow in the US.

Given what’s going on in mass-produced agriculture, the fact that only 40 to 60% of what’s in a cigarette is actually tobacco, and the amount of money big pharmaceutical companies pump into Washington to maintain their competitive edge, we don’t have to stretch very far to imagine where this is going to go.

Truth be told, there’s a million ways for us to mess this up.

The biggest way, though, is to ignore that it’s happening.

It may sound crazy right now, but not to long ago scientists estimated that we would only need three computers in the world.

Now, everyone’s walking around with one in their hand looking for a rare Pokémon.

But there are also a lot of things we can do to get it right. If you’re a consumer, you can support legislation that puts your needs first.

Trust me Big Farming and Big Parma are already looking into this. You should too.

Cannabis isn’t tobacco, and it’s not alcohol. No rational person smokes cigarettes for the health benefits. So, don’t just copy and paste laws designed for those products.

But do ask for clear and standardized labeling and insist on quality, ethical products. Do your research. Ask questions.

If you’re a journalist or a blogger, take a new look at the industry, and write about it.

If you’re in the industry, find a niche and get serious about marketing.

If you have the means, consider investing in a company that makes ethical products.

Yeah, potheads exist, and they always will, but they won’t make up the majority of users.

Because I promise you, there will be a day where you download your genetic profile, get it analyzed, and within minutes, you will know what type of marijuana will react best for your body for whatever type of outcome you’re going for.

And there will be a day when you go to the store and you’ll pick your specific kind with your coffee, your toilet paper, and your body lotion.

And I’m not talking 2050. I’m talking 2025.

Cannabis isn’t a panacea, but it deserves more consideration than most of us are giving it today.

We are wired for weed. Do what you can to make sure it becomes a force of good in our lives.

Talk soon,
Big Mike

P.S. I’m currently writing a very important free report for you, titled What Big Marijuana Doesn’t Want You To Know

It’s about how you can survive and thrive in our industry, while everyone else gets squeezed out by Big Marijuana.

So be sure to keep an eye for it in your inbox. This is information you DO NOT want to miss if you plan to succeed in the ever-changing marijuana economy.

About BigMike Straumietis

If you grow or consume marijuana, you've benefited from something BigMike has done.

Since 1983, BigMike Straumietis has worked tirelessly to find new ways
to bring marijuana to its true genetic potential-legally and illegally. He's overseen
the cultivation of over a million pot plants, been the target of a federal manhunt
by the DEA and U.S. Marshals, lived on the lam for almost a decade under seven
different identities, and brought over 50 firsts to the world of marijuana growing.
In 1996, BigMike took $25,000 he'd made from a small illegal grow in Temecula,
California, snuck into Canada with a fake passport and built a growing and
trafficking organization 200 people strong. He then used his growing and
business expertise to start his company, Advanced Nutrients. Today,
Advanced Nutrients is the maker of the #1 selling cannabis-specific
nutrient line in the world, with over $105 million a year in sales from
over 100 countries.

When he's not figuring out ways to grow bigger and better buds, throwing
parties at his world famous marijuana mansion, or running Advanced Nutrients,
BigMike dabbles in creating social change. His charity Holiday Heroes feeds
over 26 thousand people in need, each Easter and Christmas. Mike created
the political party, Nova Bulgaria, in order to create real change in the corrupt
government of Bulgaria. Advanced Nutrients donated over a million dollars
worth of nutrients to assist sick and dying patients, built a classroom in
Uganda, and constructed a grow room for CannaMoms, to allow children who
suffer from conditions such as epilepsy and cancer access to the medicine
they need. Advanced Nutrients also lends seed money to individuals in
developing countries who dream of starting a small business, but lack the
means to do so, donate heavily to the Marijuana Policy Project, and are
spearheading MMJ Bulgaria, which advocates for Medical Marijuana
legalization in Bulgaria.